When it comes to HDTVs, you have a lot of choices. Not only can you pick from several different display technologies, but there are more than a dozen companies vying for your dollars. One of the same companies that earned Readers' Choice Awards last year-Samsung-is back at the top for 2010. Joining it this year with neck-and-neck results is Sony.

Pioneer, who specialized in plasma televisions, received a Readers' Choice four years running. Even this year the company received an excellent 9.2 overall rating, but it pulled out of making HDTVs last year (notice it didn't register at all in the results for new TVs). So no award this year.

Samsung is a jack of all trades: Readers gave it the highest overall ratings in LCDs, LEDs, and rear-projection TVs (where it was tied with two other companies), and it's not far off the pace in plasmas. Its 9.0 rating for likelihood to recommend is the highest of any manufacturer and the same rating that Samsung earned last year.

That said, Sony and Samsung share the same overall score (8.7) and while HDTVs don't need fixing very often (except rear-projection systems), Samsung could improve in technical support and repairs: Its satisfaction ratings were well behind those of Sony. In fact, Sony is the only other company that had enough support and repair calls to be included in our analysis. Sony had very high ratings across the board and inches into the Readers' Choice circle for HDTVs.

Panasonic and Vizio earn our Honorable Mentions this year for some similarly outstanding scores, in particular a high likelihood of recommendation (8.9 for each) nad Vizio's low percentage of sets needing repair (2%).

When it comes to HDTVs and pleasing people, bigger is better. We looked at overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend compared to screen size and it probably comes as no shock that as screens grow, so do these ratings.

Readers' Choice: Samsung Electronics America
The most popular television maker as chosen by the majority of respondents, Samsung is consistently at the top in every type of HDTV.

Readers' Choice: Sony Electronics Inc.
Sony's excellent numbers among all HDTV owners, plus great ease of use, make it an easy choice as a runner up.

Honorable Mention: Panasonic Corp. of North America
High reliability is what Panasonic TVs are all about.

Honorable Mention: Vizio Inc.
Vizio HDTVs not only are good and reliable, they have the lowest percentage of sets that need repairs.